Can you believe we got a Hero's Welcome !

So, today is the Sunday of a long weekend and we can confirm that it is busy on the waterways. Everywhere we have boated is full of docked boats and in may places we have seen some very close battles for a space on the dock wall. I just hope that the economy is benefitting from all this activity. Needless to say, our days have been a bit challenging finding places to stop and to stay overnight. It started last evening when we could not get any further than Rosedale as the locks in Fenlon Falls, Bobcaygeon and Buckhorn have an overwhelming number of boaters staying for the weekend. It makes it difficult for transient boaters to find a spot to overnight.

With that said, we left Rosedale and entered the first lock at 9 am on the button and were through by 9:07. What a great start to the day. It was a quick 20 minute cruise to Fenlon Falls and again, it was packed with boaters but we were able to get through this lock with no delays. The run down the river past Fenlon Falls is always a nice cruise as this is almost home to us when we are at our cottage. Peaceful and quiet, yet you would think you are in the wilderness as you meander through the waterways to Sturgeon Lake.

Our cottage is on Lake Sturgeon and we planned to make a quick stop and say hello to Julie and Corey who were there for the weekend. That's Jan's daughter and her hubby. We anchored about 200 feet off our dock as the water is a bit too shallow for Out to See to get closer to our dock and near shore.

This is the view of our boat, from our patio at the cottage and that is as close as we can get.

Everything started to look really good this morning. We anchored successfully in front of the cottage and then we prepared the dingy to get to shore only to find a dead battery ........ OH NO !!!! Is this the start of a new Hallman Experience?

We could not get the dingy to run and then we thought about swimming to short but decided that we needed to fix this problem as we may need the dingy on our trip but where would be a better place to fix the battery problem, but at home. Our solution was to launch the dingy, float it behind our boat and then get all three of us inside and push it to shore hoping that we would land close to the dock. Maybe paddle a little.

With a little persuasion and rowing with the emergency paddles, we made it successfully to shore and Julie grabbed the lines as we hit the dock. Fortunately we had a spare battery at the cottage and we decided to swap batteries and use the good one for the rest of the trip.

After a short stop at the cottage we headed to Bobcaygeon, which is the busiest spot on the Trent Canal System and sure enough, every spot was taken again. I decided to give our followers a video tour of the town by means of the waterway so enjoy this short timelapse of Bobcaygeon by Water.

Bobcaygeon by Waterway

After leaving Bobcaygeon we travelled through Buckhorn Lock, Lovesick and Burleigh Falls and several of the lakes along the way. When we arrived at Buckhorn we had to tie up on the Blue Line, as this is where boats tie up and wait until the lock is empty before they proceed into the lock. We knew we had a few minutes so we walked to the Ice Cream store to find about 30 people lined up for their Ice Cream. Across the street was a small store with Kawartha Ice Cream so we quickly crossed the street and got three Baby Scoops of Ice Cream and these really, were not small. They were the perfect amount and so tasty. Dave and Austin had Cherry and I had Salted Carmel Truffle. They were so good and hit the spot.

Too many people in line

We walked across the street for better and faster service

See how Happy Captain Paul is with his favorite Ice Cream

It was rather calm all day, until we reached Lovesick where the winds picked up to 35 KM per hour. It was a bit of a challenge to keep the boat steady as 8 smaller boats came out of the lock and passed by our side waiting to enter. Rookie boaters made it tough for me to not yell at them to move along, rather than take their time. Didn't they see us struggling in the winds?

At 4:30 we passed through Burleigh Falls and it was then we learned that all the dock walls were full from where we were until after Peterborough so we decided to stay at Burleigh Falls for the night. Now what do we do for a few hours before dinner. Well I though that some more cleaning was in store so I climbed onto the hard top of the boat to scrub all the spider poop off the roof and wash the back window. This has not been cleaned for many years so it needed it badly. Now it looks like new.

Look how clean this looks now?

This following chart was the route and log for the days journey which included 4.45 hours underway, 6.31 hours total travel, 69.9 km travelled and an average speed of 14.3 km, with a maximum speed of 26.2 km.

We were somewhat overwhelmed by not leaving the boat since last Friday, so we agreed that it was going to be a night out for dinner and a short walk We were close to the Burleigh Falls Inn and checked the menu before venturing to try it out. It seemed that Jan and I had been here before so we decided that this was a good idea. The meal was awesome - Beef Brisket Jambalaya, Mussels and Sweet Potato Fries, Chicken Wings and three tasty deserts that we cannot talk about.

The Burleigh Falls Inn

After dinner we walked back to our boat, Out To See, and we were treated to a hero's welcome, with a special fireworks display, thanking us for dropping by their small lock, enjoying dinner at their fine dining place, and for staying for the evening at the Burleigh Falls Locks. What a way to remember Burleigh Falls. Please enjoy this Fireworks Show and Good night to all. There will be more to report on tomorrow.

Tomorrow is yet another day and it is not yet midnight and I have finished writing this blog. For me that is early, so I am almost guaranteed a good night sleep and an earlier rise!